POACEAE. 



31 



2. Eragrostis ciliaris (L.) Link. FRINGED 

 ERAGROSTIS. (Fig. 45.) Annual; culms densely 

 tufted, slender, erect or ascending, 1 high 

 or less; leaf-sheaths with a tuft of hairs at 

 the top and usually ciliate, the Blades flat, 

 l'-3*' long, l"-2$" wide; panicle narrow, dense, 

 1' 1' long, its branches appressed; spikelets 

 small, 6-16-flowered ; palet-nerves long-ciliate. 

 [Poo ciliaris L.] 



Dry sandy or rocky soil. Naturalized. 

 Southern United States, West Indies and tropical 

 continental America. Abundant in flower on top 

 of Wreck Hill, Sandy's, Sept., 1912. 



20. BEIZA L. 



Annual or perennial grasses, with flat or 

 convolute leaves and open or rarely contracted 

 panicles. Spikelets flattened, tumid, many- 

 flowered, nodding, the flowers perfect. Scales 

 thin-membranous, strongly concave, the 2 lower 

 empty, 3-5-nerved, somewhat unequal ; flowering scales imbricated, broader than 

 the empty ones, 5-many-nerved; uppermost scales often empty; palets much 

 shorter than the scales, hyaline, 2-keeled or 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles dis- 

 tinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain usually free, enclosed in the scale and palet. 

 [Greek name for some grain, perhaps rye.] About 12 species, natives of the 

 Old World and temperate S. Am. Type species: Briza minor L. 



1. Briza maxima L. QUAKING-GRASS. 

 (Fig. 46.) Annual, tufted; culms glabrous, 

 slender, 2A high or less. Leaves narrowly 

 linear, 2'-5' long, l"-2" wide, acuminate; 

 ligule acute, elongated; spikelets few, large, 

 5"-8" long, 4"-6" wide, ovate, 9-15-flowered, 

 nodding .on filiform peduncles, shining; flow- 

 ering scales loosely pubescent, about as long 

 as the glabrous empty lower ones. 



Frequent on banks, in fields and in lawns. 

 Introduced from Europe for cultivation as an 

 ornamental grass in gardens. Flowers in spring 

 and summer. Naturalized in Jamaica, and intro- 

 duced into the United States. 



21. POA L. 



Annual or perennial grasses, with flat or 

 convolute leaves and contracted or open 



<* ', >\ panicles. Spikelets 2-6-flowered, compressed, 



* ^ J7u the rachilla usually glabrous; flowers per- 



fect, or rarely dioecious. Scales membranous, keeled; the 2 lower empty, 



